


'Maybe I'm too busy being yours to fall for somebody'

by Odd_birds_and_booksellers



Category: Grey's Anatomy
Genre: Enemies to Lovers, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-02
Updated: 2021-02-02
Packaged: 2021-03-14 00:14:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29162490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Odd_birds_and_booksellers/pseuds/Odd_birds_and_booksellers
Summary: It took all my brain cells to write this I can't write a summary as well. Jolex Au.
Relationships: Alex Karev & Jo Wilson, Alex Karev/Jo Wilson
Comments: 2
Kudos: 20





	'Maybe I'm too busy being yours to fall for somebody'

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Trebleclefstories](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Trebleclefstories/gifts).



> This my late Birthday gift to Leya. She's cute, we don't hate her, merry Christmas and happy new year. Yay Leya. I forgot what writing was so please enjoy.

Jo groaned as she rolled over, trying to fall further into the sheets, her nose curling up in distaste as the scent of old sweat and sex washes over her, these definitely weren’t her sheets. Cracking an eye open she takes in her surroundings, the dark dingy sight of a basement surrounds her, a Rocky poster hanging haphazardly off the wall. It looks like it has been there since the 80s, in fact, most of the crap in this dump did. She sighs, squeezing her eyes shut as the memories of last night come flooding back, now without her beer goggles on the sexy guy at the bar was more a sleazy grease ball clearly still living with his mother. _ Good going Jo, were you honestly that horny that this guy seemed like a good idea? _ Shuddering at the thought of his clumsy hands all over her and the way he kept telling her she liked it when he hadn’t done anything was enough to make her wanna cry as she slips out of the bed, quickly grabbing her dress from the floor as she headed towards the stairs, wincing as the old wood creaked under her feet with each step praying to god he didn't wake up.

She sighed a breath of relief as the sunlight met her face, she was so close to getting away without being noticed it's only when sleazeballs mother stops her at the front door that she thinks she might actually start crying. The older woman was clearly not used to seeing another woman exiting her son's room and seemed practically giddy at the sight, as she ushered Jo towards the kitchen muttering something about having always wanted a daughter. It takes Jo well over an hour to slip out of her grasp, only managing to do so after promising the mother that she’d be back for tea another day. She definitely wouldn’t be, in fact, she was considering changing her name and leaving the country. She thought the son was bad but clearly, his mother was where he got it from. 

Jo doesn't mind the walk back to her apartment, if she’s honest the sun beating down on her face makes her feel good, almost enough to lift her mood as she kicks off her heels picking them up in her hand as she lazily strolls down the street ignoring the disgusted look from the parents on the school run as she passed the local middle school, as if they weren't once her age doing the exact same walk of shame. 

Jo doesn't think she’s ever been happier to see her shitplace of an apartment building as she enters the lobby, quickly tapping at the elevator button, praying to god noisy Mrs Parker doesn't magically appear to tell her about a woman's virtue again. As the elevator doors slip open though she's met with a sight worst then the grease ball she woke up next to this morning. There is her neighbour...number 29 with what must be his woman of the night pressed up against the mirrors, Jo’s not really in the place to judge this woman but if only she knew where 29 had been, I mean someone should tell her to get checked. “27….did not see you there.” He grins making Jo snap out from where she had been staring at them in disgust, her nose wrinkling up as she met his eye. He was stupidly attractive if anything it made Jo hate him more, with his sharp jawline, two-day-old stubble and messy bed hair, that signature smirk that seemed to make her blood boil every time they bumped into each other. 

“Clearly…” Jo deadpans, as she gestures to the lobby, waiting for them to vacate the elevator so she could get in. Instead, 29 simply pats the woman's behind, gently pushing her towards the exits as he mumbles his goodbye. 

“You can call me later...I’ll be waiting okay?” The small blonde mumbles, biting her lip as she brushes a hand through her hair, stumbling slightly as she exits the lift. Jo rolls her eyes finding the whole show nauseating. 

“Yeah...sounds good, I'll see what I've got on.” _Code for I’ll never see you again._ He grumbles another goodbye, shooting Jo glare as he jolts his head back towards the elevator and she sighs brushing past the blonde as she makes her way to the back corner pressing herself into the wall, as far away from 29 as possible. She watches as he begins to furiously push the close door button, forcing a smile as the blonde continues to ramble on about their cosmic connection and Jo has to withhold her laugh, trying to cover it up with a cough as 29 turns around the glare at her once again. They both let out a sigh of relief when the doors finally shut and the elevator jumps into action. Jo can’t seem to stop the little giggle that escapes her lips as 29 leans on the wall beside her. 

“Cosmic connection huh?”

“What can I say 27? I always leave the ladies wanting more.” He winks and Jo honestly thinks she might vomit.

As Jo looks up she spots him still smirking at her as he looks her up and down taking in her creased black dress and worn heels hanging from her hand. 

“Really? you always leave me wanting to gag.” She mutters, rolling her eyes as she looks up at the ceiling, cursing the old lift in their block. 

They’d been neighbours for a little over a year and she swears she has never seen him with the same woman, she knew everyone was entitled to their own sex life and she tried to not judge but this guy had a new one each day. That wasn’t a problem of course I mean Jo didn’t really care, she too made her own questionable decisions so she couldn’t judge these girls. From the sound of things, he must know how to do something right. But that is the problem, the sound of things, all times of the day and night when she's trying to revise, when she was trying to sleep before her bio exam, when she was on the phone to her boss trying to call in sick. Granted there probably isn't an easy way to ask your neighbour to have sex quietly and maybe she shouldn’t have called him a gigilo at the residents meeting or called the police...twice but hey she needed to study. Anyway, this had led to a little not so friendly war between the two, it started when he’d sent back her parcels when the delivery driver had asked him to take them in while she was at work, then she’d eaten his take out knowing they’d knocked on the wrong door, then she’d blasted Barney the Dinosaur when she could tell he was close to finishing, he’d told the caretaker he could smell gas from her apartment when he couldn't and then left her with the new door bill and she’d woken up early one week to give every girl that left his a sexual health clinic pamphlet. So yeah a little war...it was all fun and games really... Jo didn’t totally hate it, not that she’d ever tell him that, no she’d never mention how their little war was a fun distraction from her stressful life. 

She hears him chuckles as the lift rumbles to a stop on their floor, he kicks off the wall partially pushing her out of the way as he exits the elevator. “I bet I do...but you aren’t a lady 27.”

Jo groans clearly he’d taken her gag comment in another direction, a direction that really did make vomit rise in her throat as she begins to dig through her purse for her keys. “Yeah, and you’re an ass.”

He just laughs again as he crosses the hallway to his own front door. “It’s been a pleasure as always.” He smiles, as he unlocks his door slipping into his own apartment without a second look. 

Panic begins to set in as Jo rummages through her purse, her ID and card are still tucked into the pocket, a lipgloss and her phone but no key. Sighing she kneels down dropping the contents of her bag onto her doormat as if the key was magically going to reappear. Brilliant she’d lost it. Groaning Jo bangs her head against the cool wood of her door, she can feel the tears welling in her eyes and she's pretty sure it is the alcohol. She could go down and ask the caretaker to break her door in but if she was honest she really couldn’t afford to buy another door. She slips lower onto the floor and twists around so her back is leant against the door. Steph had a spare key...she just didn’t know where Steph was. 

6 Missed calls later Jo receives a text from her, she's at work and not happy that Jo had been blowing up her phone for the last 10 minutes. Jo rolls her eyes as her friend promises to swing by on her lunch break with said key, clearly not sympathetic to Jo being left to sit on her doorstep for four hours wearing next to nothing, smelling like old beer and bad decisions. 

Just when she thinks her luck can’t get worse the door opposite swings open, there in his stupidly hot grey joggers and black T stands 29 again. “What are you doing?” he asks.

“What does it look like I’m doing? I clearly think the dirty hallway outside my apartment is more comfortable than my bed and have decided I'll sleep out here.”

“Okay…” He shrugs, as the elevator doors ding open and the pizza guy Jo recognises from the place down the street appears, she had no idea they delivered this early. She watches as he greets nine handing over the box to him. Jo can hear stomach grumbling as she eyes up the box in his hand. 

“Wait…” She grumbles, against her better judgment leaping off the floor and dusting off her dress as the pizza guy heads out. “Can I come in?

“What?” 29 stares at her in surprise.

“I’m locked out...so can I come in for an hour...or two…” _ Or four. _ “Just until my friend can drop off the spare key.” 

“Hmm let me think about it.” 29 cocks his head to the side as leans against the door frame for a moment. “No...No you can’t.”

“Oh come on...you’re actually gonna make me sit out here all morning.”

“Life’s a bitch you know….” The doors slam shut and Jo resists the urge to throw her purse across the hallway. She knew it was a bad idea to ask, call it a moment of insanity. 

Just as she's about to make the walk down to Mrs Parker’s deciding a lecture on a woman's place in the world and the lord saviour was better than sitting on the cold floor for hours, 29’s door reopens. “You can come in on one condition.”

“I'm not sleeping with you,” Jo mutters as she narrows her eyes on him, crossing her arms over her chest. 

He lets out a short chuckle nodding as if he appreciated her response. “That’s cute but I'm not offering, no offence but I don't know where you've been.” He gestures towards her current appearance as he opens the door wider stepping aside for her to enter. 

Jo just hovers at the doorway, weighing up her choices, there's gotta be a cost to making a deal with the devil. “Yeah, I'm the problem...what's the condition?”

“You call me Alex from now on.” 

“Alex….” The word rolls off Jos' tongue as she tests it out. It feels unfamiliar and just plain wrong. It was way too human for him. 

“Yeah Alex...my name.”

“Wait, your name isn't number 29?” 

“No...Jo, it isn't.” He makes a point of saying her name and she feels shivers down her spine as his eyes meet hers. 

“How do you know that my name is Jo?” It’s a stupid question, she knows he knows it, she hadn’t introduced herself as 27, he heard it at the resident's meetings, seen it on the post box and parcels. It wouldn’t be that hard to know but in all the time she's known him, he’d called her 27. She had just assumed he didn’t care enough to know her name or to use it.

“I'm not an idiot.” 

Jo sighs, patting his chest as she pushes past him to the devil's lair. “Coulda fooled me, Alex.”

Jo wasn't particularly surprised by the inside of 29...Alex’s home, it was as predicted a standard bachelor pad, a couch, a tv, just the essentials no real homely touches, there were however a few framed photographs around the place. Honestly, the way he comes and goes with a new stranger she would be surprised to find that he had any real friends or family and yet there were several photos of the same set of people. They all looked relatively recent, a few caught her eye in particular one in which 29 was standing there in light blue scrubs and a lab coat, one arm slung around a blonde in navy scrubs smiling ear to ear, a genuine smile none of that fake smirk crap he puts on when she's sees him. 

“Beer?” He queries and shuts the fridge, two bottles already in hand as he slides one over the counter towards her. 

“It’s 8 am.”

“And yet you’re dressed like that.”

Jo chews on her lip resisting the urge to reply with another sarcastic comment, she's grateful he let her in. _Let's not try and get kicked out now._ “Fairpoint.” She nods, taking the beer offered to her.

“You wanna take a shower?” Alex asks after a moment, he lets out a bitter laugh when Jo raises one eyebrow at him. “Honestly Jo you keep assuming I wanna sleep with you, I'm flattered but honestly I was just offering because well you kinda stink.”

Jo's jaw clenched as she tried to force a fake smile, he wasn’t wrong of course and to be honest a shower sounded like heaven right now even if it was in the devil's lair but he could’ve been a gentleman and not pointed it out.

“Thanks for the very kind offer…” She grumbles, her voice dripping with sarcasm as she spoke.“But I don’t have any other clothes.”

“Really? I assumed this was attire was by choice. I mean that is the standard uniform for the street corner right?” He takes a swig of his beer before continuing. “Obviously you can borrow some of mine.” 

“Yeah and catch something nasty I’m sure.” 

“Nothing nastier than what’s on your dress right now.” 

“Fine, I’ll take a shower.” Jo snaps following him down the hall, snatching the towel he offers her from his hands as he shows her to the bathroom. “For the record, I’m not a hooker.” 

Jo feels a whole lot better when she steps into the shower, the hot water steaming up the bathroom washing away all of yesterday's mistakes, clearing her mind as she tips her head back, letting the water fall against her face as she relishes in the moment, ignoring the fact that this isn't her own shower and instead of smelling like her usual vanilla body wash she'd smell like Ice Axe whatever the hell that was meant to smell like. 

When she finally exits the shower she grabs the towel he’d given her, wrapping it tightly around herself as she pokes her head outside the door. “Alex?”

“In here…” She follows the sound of his voice down the hall to the last door, opening it she finds what she assumes is his bedroom, it's sparse like the rest of his apartment, a half-made bed, two bedside tables and a chest of draws in the corner, which Alex was  rummaging around in before finally turning to hand her some garments with an apologetic shrug, they look a little big for her but she's grateful to wear anything that's clean and not so revealing. 

He gives her a curt nod as he points towards the door making his exit so she can change in peace and Jo takes the opportunity to snoop a little, there aren't any photos in here but there is a framed certificate leaning against the wall on his chest of draws...a doctorate. 29 was a freaking doctor. Jo shudders at the thought of having that guy save her life as she pulls the baggy joggers over her hips, tying them as tight as possible before shrugging the worn sweatshirt he handed her on. 

When she finally makes her way back down the hallway, she finds him munching on a slice of pizza as he lays across his couch. She watches as he notices her standing there, trying to hide his laughter at her appearance which only reminds Jo why she thinks he's such an ass as she grabs her now lukewarm beer from the countertop, hesitantly making her way to sit on the opposite end of the sofa. 

“You’re a doctor?”

“Mhmm, a surgeon...you sound surprised.”

“I am...I always assumed doctors had to be you know, intelligent.”

“I assumed hookers had a sense of humour.”

“I'm not a hooker.” Jo glowered, flipping him off as she twisted to face the wall opposite them. 

“So you said...what are you then?” He asks, and Jo rolls her neck as decides whether or not she wants to even answer, unsure she wants to share any information with him as he watches her expectantly. 

“I'm a student...pre-med.”

“Really?” Alex's eyes twinkle and Jo wants to die right there and then. “Well it looks like we have more in common then I thought.” 

“Please don't make me sick…”

The smile drops from his face as he places the beer down with a thud on the coffee table. “What makes you hate me so much?” 

“I don't hate you.” Jo shrugs. Faking interest in the photos on the wall, avoiding eye contact at all costs. 

“No?”

“I just don't like you.” She finishes and she watches as the line of his mouth hardens, his frown forming as he shifts a little closer to her, his voice hoarse when he speaks. 

“But why? What did I do to you?”

“You're just a douchebag.”

“I'm not a...shut up. What do you know about me?” He winces, draining the rest of his beer and there's something about the look on his face that makes Jo feel a little guilty like her words had wounded him which was weird because up until this point she wasn't aware 29 was capable of feeling human emotions.

“I know you're the kinda guy that orders pizza and drinks beer at half eight in the morning.” She gestures to the beer in her hand and the half-eaten pizza on the table. 

“I'm a doctor. I didn't finish work until 4 this morning...this is dinner, a very late dinner.”

Jo scrunches up her face, he really does have an answer for everything but that doesn't mean she's wrong, he's definitely a douchebag. “Okay well you sleep around like your life depends on it.”

“It's stress relief, some people go to the gym...some people...”

“Yeah well, you're aware it doesn't have to be a different woman each night.”

“Jealous?”

“Oh yes please Alex treat me like one of the women you throw away each night,” Jo begs, leaning up on her knees, her voice turning sickly sweet as she bats her eyelashes in Alex’s direction.

He doesn't laugh or even smirk like she expects him to, he looks genuinely hurt as he looks over at her. “I don't throw them away, okay? they know I'm not looking for anything, I don't have the time to build a relationship with someone, doesn't mean you have to hate me, you don’t actually know me.”

“You lied and had my door broken down…”

He looks up at her, eyes narrowed in confusion. “What? No, I didn’t.”

Jo scoffs, shifting back down in her seat with her legs tucked under her. “Alex I know it was you that reported a gas leak, Louis told me.”

Alex closes his eyes shaking his head. “No I did call it in but I really did smell something, I was worried I hadn’t seen you for a while.”

“I was staying with my friends.” 

“So you hate me because…”

“I already told you I don't hate you…

“But you don't like me.”

“You don't like me either.” 

“I never said that.” Alex snaps, maybe it was her brain still buzzing with alcohol but she could’ve sworn his voice had got deeper. “I like you plenty.”

Jo sighs, taking a big swig of the beer in her hand. She was trying to process what she was hearing.

“You're smart, you've got a wicked sense of humour and you already know you’re hot...what's not to like…”

She takes a deep breath as it occurs to her this could all be another elaborate prank, even though the look in his eyes tells her he's being nothing but sincere right now she has to be cautious. “Are you serious right now?”

“Deadly.” He bends down resting his elbows against his thighs and he rakes a hand through his messy bed hair. “I don’t know how to make this clearer Jo, I like you, have done pretty much since the day you barged into my apartment in those rugrat pyjamas demanding I keep the noise down. I’m sorry I came off like a douchebag but you’re hot and I was probably trying to act like you didn't have an effect on me.”

“You’ve never said this before.”

“Yeah well, you've never been that welcoming before.” 

Jo's brows furrow as she mentally goes back for every interaction they've ever had. Had she honestly been reading him wrong this whole time, if she tries to see it from Alex’s perspective maybe she had been the one being a douchebag? 

She doesn’t respond, leaning back against the sofa. She’s not sure what she supposed to do with all this information especially when his version of events seem so polar opposite to her own until an hour ago she hadn’t seen one moment of warmth or kindness from Alex or at least she thought she hadn’t but maybe she just hadn’t been reading him right. 

When she peers over at him his eyes are turned down to the beer in his hands, picking slowly at the label. They sit like that in silence for a moment before he shifts laying back on the opposite side of the sofa, switching the TV on without another world.

Was this all in her head? Had she decided they were bitter enemies? Right now the guy lounging beside her felt a world away from her crappy ass neighbour. 

* * *

She must’ve fallen asleep because the next thing Jo remembers is being gently shaken by Alex. “Jo…” He hisses. “Jo wake up...your friends here.” He nods towards the doorway where there in fact is Steph, impatient tapping her foot against the floor still in her work uniform.

Jo blinks a couple of times still working out her surroundings before she jumps up grabbing her purse and clothes from the side. “I…” She comes to halt in the doorway spinning around and she practically smacks into Alex. “I...Thank you for today and…” The words die in her mouth, _thanks for telling me you like me?_ What the hell was she meant to say?

“It’s all good...anytime.” He gives her a polite smile, a little nod letting her know she didn’t have to say anything else like he could read her mind already. 

She nods, stepping out of his apartment, ignoring Steph's eye as she crosses the hallway to her own front door. It’s only when they’re in the safety of her apartment Steph speaks up.

“Imagine my surprise when I show up to find 29 opening his door to tell me you’re asleep at his.”

Jo groans, dramatically throwing herself against her own couch. “Please don’t start...I...I was locked out. He let me crash there until you came...took your time by the way.”   


Steph lets out a dry laugh, wandering over to the kitchen grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge and bringing it over to Jo. “Yeah, how rude of me to have a job and not be ready for any time you decide to lose your key on a one night stand.”

“Mhmm, my head hurts be nicer to me.”

“Nice try...you’re lucky I only have an hour lunch break but I will be back and I want every detail of whatever that was I just witnessed...you hear me, Josephine.”

“The whole block can hear you.” Jo groans pulling one of the pillows over her head as she hears the heavy click of her front door shutting.

* * *

She doesn’t see 29...Alex again for two days. She swears he might be actively avoiding her, they usually run into each other most days but she hadn’t heard his door creak open for a while and the longer she goes without seeing him the more she finds herself wanting to. His words still replying over and over in her mind. 

It’s late when she hears the familiar ding of the elevators, knowing he's probably the only one up at this late hour. She slowly tiptoes her way to the door, peering out through her keyhole to confirm it is in fact Alex, he looks exhausted as he fiddles with his keys in the low light of the hallway. Before she knows what she’s doing she's twisting the lock on her door, the noise startling him as he looks up surprised to see her standing there in the same rugrat pyjamas she had on when they first met.

"Hi..."

“Jo...Hey.”

“Are you...are you okay?” She feels dumb asking the question, it’s close to midnight, he looks tired and shes there asking him if he's okay when really they don’t even know each other.

“I’m good.” He presses his lips together as an awkward silence falls between them. “Was there something you wanted?”

“Oh yes…” Jo nods, frantically pushing off the door frame as she grabs the pile of washed and folded clothes from her side. “I wanted to return these and you know to say thank you again...for the other day.”

“Oh.” Alex nods, accepting the clothes from her before flashing her grateful smile. “You’re welcome...I’ll see you around.” He mumbles as he turns back around to face his own door, fiddling with the lock.

“Alex…” Jo calls just as the door squeaks open, making him stop in his tracks, letting out an exhausted sigh and she can tell he’s not really in the mood to talk but she can’t seem to keep her thoughts to herself any longer. “You said I was hot...the other day you said I was hot and that you liked me.”

Alex rolls his eyes, dumping his keys and bag at the table by his door. “Yeah well you are hot and I do like you.”

Jo nods, taking a deep breath as she tries to coherently share her thoughts. She’s spent the last two days just replaying their conversation over and over again, their once black and white relationship now confusing for her. She steps forward closing her door behind her until she's only inches away from Alex. “I’ve been thinking about us.”

“Us? Is there an us?” He queries and Jo’s breath hitches as she feels one of his hands come to rest against her waist. 

“Well...there's two of us here.”

Alex smiles a small laugh falling from his lips as his arms encircle her and waist, pulling her closer. “And you’ve been thinking about that huh? Me and you.” 

Jo feels like all the air has been sucked out of her lungs as she stares up at his smirking face. Instead of answering him, she rises up on her tiptoes, her arms wrapping around his neck as she pulls his face down to meet hers. There's a second of hesitation before they seem to lean forward in sync, her lips finding his easily, it's slow and sweet, not what she’d imagine from 29 at all and yet she is 100% sure it’s the best kiss she’s ever had.

Pulling back slowly he traces his thumb over her bottom lip and any words Jo had been trying to say are completely forgotten about.

“Were you thinking about that?”

“It was a little different actually…” She manages.

“Really?”

“Yeah it was more…” Jo pulls him down again with a little more force this time, her lips finding him easily. She's not sure she'll ever be able to stop, she doesn't think she'll ever get enough of him and all they’ve done is kiss. She feels him groan as he tugs her further into his apartment, slamming the door shut behind them. Jo’s pretty sure his kisses might just be like heaven as she runs her hands through his hair, a tiny yelp emitting from her throat as he lifts her up off the floor so that she's on his level, high enough to wrap her legs around his waist. 

He stumbles down the hallway stopping to press Jo against the wall as he struggles with the door handle to his room. Every coherent thought Jo had is long gone when he drops her down onto the bed, lowering himself down with her as he turns his attention to her neck and Jo can’t stop herself from moaning as he hits her sweet spot. 

“Shhh….” Alex whispers trailing kisses back up her jawline until he's hovering above her, his eyes sparkling with happiness as they find hers. “My neighbour is a real bitch about the noise.” He jokes and Jo finds herself laughing along with him as he presses his lips to hers once more.


End file.
